


Extraction of the ruby - a Sonic Forces oneshot

by Egg_Emperor



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Sonic Forces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 17:08:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20855288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Egg_Emperor/pseuds/Egg_Emperor
Summary: Infinite has failed during his battle against Sonic and Eggman isn't giving him any more chances. It's time for him to take the ruby away from him, and it won't be a pleasant experience for the jackal.





	Extraction of the ruby - a Sonic Forces oneshot

It was dark and cold in the lab that grim evening. All the power and the heating was shut off for entirely for the first time in months. But the low temperature still couldn't cool the man's anger as he was incredibly heated, clenching his fists and jaw so hard that he shook. He felt a rage so intense that it induced sickness and the burning urge for destruction. But then again, those feelings were always dwelling inside him and all it took was for it to rise to the surface for him to reach his breaking point.

He perked up in alert when he heard the lab door opening behind him but he didn't turn around. If he was right about who it was, he didn't want to see his face as it would only make things worse. "If it is who I think it is, you're obviously not welcome here anymore," He mumbled under his breath with throat sounding hoarse.

"Doctor, I tried everything I co-"

"No, I'm not going to stand here and let you throw any terrible excuses at me! Look what you've done!" Eggman snapped and regrettably turned around to see the jackal's mug that he had hated more by the day. Now he had gotten on his last nerve. "You failed to follow my orders correctly and I don't allow_ failures_ to walk the same ground as me!"

Damn it, he was letting his anger consume him again. He just couldn't control himself when his blood boiled and he frowned so hard it would give him a headache. He'd even tense his muscles so hard that it would make him ache for days after. His temper had an extremely short fuse and it didn't take much to make him blow his top.

Extreme anger management was probably what he needed, but he didn't think of things like that. He was quick to point the blame at Infinite for pushing him closer to the edge for months leading up to this moment. He had endured all that stress and frustration for THIS? His reaction wasn't going to be pretty and anyone would have seen that coming.

While it was clear that Eggman was placing all the blame on him to divert it from himself, the words still hit Infinite hard. There were no words left to defend himself and he didn't have the energy or will to do so anymore.

He felt broken and bruised, mentally and physically from the fight with Sonic. And as much as he hated to admit it, this had a huge impact on his already vulnerable state. Maybe all the things he'd been told were true after all. He really was weak. His last attempt to defend himself only emphasized this further.

"It... isn't entirely my fault. I- you're also the one tha-"

"I could've had it all if it wasn't for _you!_ You failed to follow my orders correctly even after the immense power that I granted you!" Eggman quickly interrupted him as he couldn't bear to listen to whatever blame he was going to try and throw onto him.

Infinite shut his mouth after that and didn't even try to fight back anymore as his feeling of faintness in his body caused him to collapse. He landed on his hands and knees, shivering as he thumped a small fist on the ground. Eggman took advantage of his state and came to stand over him with his hands on his hips to assert himself as superior. He glared down at him with total disgust, like he was a pile of dog shit he had stepped in.

"Have you forgotten just how easily I can take that ruby away from you? I pondered doing so many times during the time you had it, but I held out for you. I let you have it for longer to see if you could prove yourself to be somewhat worthy despite it all. But you weren't, because you don't even know what to do with such power. Weakness is all you've ever really known." He lectured as he circled the fallen lackey.

"Just look at you. So weak, pathetic and useless beneath me. That's the way you've always been and it's why you needed me in the first place." His breaths were growing heavier as adrenaline built up inside of him but he didn't appear to be enjoying it on the surface as his cold eyes were still firmly fixed upon him.

"So do you know what I'm doing to do?" He suddenly raised his voice in volume as he grabbed him roughly by the scruff of the back of his neck like a cat, taking him by surprise.

Infinite didn't respond and forced himself to look up at him, shamefully revealing the fear in his eyes. He had no idea what the man was going to become of him but this man had the power to make him feel afraid. He felt it deep in his heart that he often forgot he had but it was becoming hard to ignore as it raced in his chest with heavy thumps.

"-I'm going to take your precious power source away from you now!" Eggman announced the answer to the question he never asked, carrying him over to the far corner of the laboratory where it was even darker. "Why should an appalling failure like yourself hold on to such a valuable energy source? Sure it doesn't have that much power left in it, but it's keeping your levels stable at least. I don't think you deserve the luxury of that."

Infinite was completely defenseless in his poor condition and didn't stand a chance when the much larger man shoved him to the ground. He wasn't sure what to expect because he was the most frighteningly unpredictable. He was left in even further confusion when Eggman disappeared into the shadows.

"It's time for a little surgery," Eggman called out loud enough for him to hear as he grasped a lever in his hands. This was going to be like playing an arcade game on a person. He had always wanted to do something like that.

What appeared to be large claw lowered from the ceiling and was positioned directly over Infinite's chest that was rising and falling with hyperventilation. No, no, no... This couldn't be happening. This could kill him and he knew it! He didn't know that he'd ever actually act on the threats he had repeatedly made in the past and couldn't believe that it was coming true before his very eyes as the claw drew in closer. A tremendous amount of pain became present in his chest as it closed in fast and began to tug hard at the ruby lodged into him.

Eggman toggled the lever back and forth, making it pull repeatedly at the gem. Then with a wide sadistic grin on his face, he yanked at it with all of his strength and heard a strained yell escape the jackal's mouth. Infinite's pain was immense but his voice was quiet as he felt strangled of all breath. It felt like his chest had been torn open and he felt the warm liquid gush out of the wound. He couldn't imagine what it looked like.

The machine powered down and Eggman rose from his seat, making his way back over to where Infinite lay. He watched as he coughed up blood that trickled down his jaw and saw that his chest was soaked with more of the crimson. "Operation complete. The procedure was a success!" He beamed as he unlatched the bloody ruby from the claw and inspected it briefly before waving it in his face mockingly, his gloves now stained with blood.

Infinite could barely keep his eyes open because the searing pain was draining him of all energy by the second. He only just managed to get one last look at the ruby that he had been relying on as a power and life source for so long.

"So long, Infinite the jackass!" Eggman smirked at him before turning on his heels, carelessly leaving him there to suffer all alone in the dark room.

\---------

Eggman awoke the next morning feeling incredibly out of it. All the effects of the usual post-battle sickness were coming on fast. His muscles ached all over, his body was stiff and his stomach churned. Worst of all, his head pounded and throbbed as if he'd been hit on the head with an anvil. It was probably not only from hitting his head during the fight but also from how hard he would clench his jaw and grind his teeth in frustration.

_"Arraaghhh..._ Fuck, I feel like I've been hit by a train..." He groaned and rubbed his temples hard. Every symptom had persisted, as usual. It was one of those days where all he wanted to do was eat, drink and go back to sleep.

He wanted to call Orbot and Cubot to bring him ice cream and beer but remembered that he had powered them off out of anger of them glaring at him after his defeat. They had gotten lucky because they probably have been dismantled on the spot if they had dared to make just one spiteful comment.

But that meant he would have to get up and do things himself. It took every bit of the small amount of energy he had in him to pull hoist himself upwards into a lazily and awkward slanted position. "Ohh, this is too much for me today..." He whined as he put his hand over his eyelids and huffed. But he knew he couldn't just sit there all day.

The grogginess of sleep was slowly but surely leaving him as he blinked himself awake and the awareness of his surroundings came back to him. That's when he remembered what had happened last night, the memory making him sit up fast enough to make his vision blur for a few seconds. He shook his head until it became clear again.

"I wonder what the 'result' of all that was..." The curiosity made him finally get out of bed. He soon realized that was fully clothed and had pretty much collapsed from exhaustion before he could change last night. That was saying something as leather was very uncomfortable to lie down in. His gloves were covered in a dark brown color and it took him a moment to realize it was dried blood.

He didn't plan to rush down there without using the bathroom first, so he went to do his business before anything else. He closed the door behind him and looked in the mirror to see that he was covered in dirt, his mustache was ruffled and he had dark circles under his eyes. This, of course, was the usual state he would be in the next day. It was never easy.

"Ugh, I should really start using more padding in the seats..." He grimaced as he touched his most painfully sore areas to recognize its intensity. Ensuring that there wasn't any risk in taking hits inside the cockpits of his mechs was something that he often overlooked despite having to be physically reminded of it every time. He removed his bloody gloves to wash his hands and rather than putting the old ones back on, he threw them away knowing it would never wash out of the fabric. He swapped them out for a new pair from the drawer instead.

He then got to brushing his teeth, washing his face and combing his mustache that fluffed up a little from the water. Once he tamed it and smoothed the ends, he was finished with the preparation part of his morning routine.

Even though there was a disaster to be witnessed downstairs, he had still wanted to take his time to perfect his appearance to the best of his ability. He would hate to feel dirty and greasy on a day where he was down in jumbled emotion, aching pain, and fatigue.

Now it was time for him to return to the scene of the crime. He stumbled down the stairs and headed down the hallway that led right for the control room. When he entered it was still dark, just the way he had left it last night. But what was different was the lack of his victim's presence as he was no longer lying on the floor. He looked down to see that a long trail of blood was poured out across the floor and went all the way out to the exit. "So the little bastard managed to pull himself outside, huh." He sighed, shrugging carelessly.

At first, he had expected him to die from the extraction of the ruby as it was being relied on as his life source, let alone the main source of his power and his own energy as it absorbed that as well. Also because of the very heavy amount of blood loss that was very easy to see by the current bloodshed his lab had become. Orbot and Cubot were the ones that would be cleaning all of this up as soon as he reactivated them.

"If he isn't dead yet, it won't be long until he is. I doubt he can make it that far out in the desert. Something will finish him off sooner or later if he doesn't die by himself first." He checked to see if the blood was fresh or old with his foot because he couldn't tell by color in the darkness. He found it to be dry which meant he had left some time ago.

That's when he decided to go outside to see just how far he had managed to go before possibly passing out or dying. Whatever had run its course, he would find out. He hit the button to open the front door and was met with the expected sight of heaps and heaps of sand that spanned out across the horizon. It looked rather pretty with the sun rising out from behind the tall dunes and it wasn't as hot out in this early hour. Midday was the time where the heat became the most unbearable.

The trail of red became harder to see within the sand but he followed the traces as closely as he could, right up to when he halted at the sight of a black and white tail. It was obvious who it belonged to and he looked up from his feet to see that it was, in fact, Infinite and he appeared to still be breathing.

"So, you crawled all the way out here, all by yourself? Ha! I'm not sure what your goal was since there's no way you could find the end of this place before dying of blood loss or dehydration. Whichever hits you first." He chuckled and set a foot down on his back.

Infinite grumbled in pain at the applied pressure, his sound muffled as his face was buried in the sand. This made more of it enter his mouth which prompted his gag reflex, amusing Eggman further as a wide grin appeared on his face. "Since you're still here and breathing, I suppose that means I could play with you a little more, couldn't I?" He perked up, clasped his hands together in enthusiasm.

"No... don't..." Infinite coughed and desperately tried to move to find that he couldn't anymore. He had used every last bit of strength he had left in him to get out because he had wanted it to end anywhere other than inside the doctor's base. The thing he dreaded the most now was the man dragging this painful punishment out even more.

"Begging isn't going to get you anywhere, haven't you learned that by now?" He snorted before suddenly turning to leave without a word.

Infinite still didn't see him leave as his face was buried in the sand but he could hear him trudging across the sands. After a few minutes passing without any sign of his return, he wondered if he had finally left him alone to die in peace. But unfortunately, he proved otherwise when he returned in what must have been one of his spare egg mobiles with the sound of the engine humming.

"Still conscious? Lovely. That means we can experience these last few moments together!" Eggman announced as he grasped hold of his body with another claw, this time one that had been attached as an extension to his egg mobile. Infinite really hated claws now.

All of this showed Infinite just how cold and heartless Eggman could really be. Despite working with him for months, he had greatly overlooked and underestimated the lengths he would go to. Now that he was experiencing his wrath for himself, there was really no denying it.

"You know, it's risky traveling to this destination after the trouble I've caused its inhabitants... So you should feel very special that I'm doing this all for you!" Eggman taunted him the entire drive to the mystery location.

Infinite must have passed out briefly because a sudden violent shaking of the vehicle made him jolt awake. He opened his eyes with an incredibly blurred vision to see that he was in the city. Why had Eggman brought him here?

"This would be a fitting place for you, wouldn't it?" The egg mobile then swerved around the corner of an alleyway until he reached an area filled with trashcans and bags. His question wasn't met with an answer when he proceeded to toss him out of the claw's grip so he landed amongst the trash bags with a thump.

"Now this is the part where I really say 'goodbye.' It wasn't nice knowing you!" He smiled and raised his glasses to throw him a wink before he turned to leave and never looked back.

That was the last time Infinite saw him before his body finally gave up the fight for good, his vision fading to blackness.


End file.
